


coming home

by sevedra



Series: Portraits of Recovery [4]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Winter Soldier (Comics)
Genre: Bucky Barnes Recovering, Gen, Introspection, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Pre-The Avengers: Infinity War (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-25
Updated: 2018-01-25
Packaged: 2019-03-09 05:47:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13474941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sevedra/pseuds/sevedra
Summary: It wasn't the Brooklyn of his youth, but still, New York was New York.





	coming home

**Author's Note:**

> Am I posting too many of these? Or posting them too close together? I tend to post as soon as I write. Is it better to space things out?

They arrived at the compound in the sweltering heat of summer. The looming threat of Thanos' arrival had smoothed the way for the return of the Rogue Avengers and the acceptance of Bucky Barnes' presence. Bucky wasn't sure how he felt about being here. Coming here, coming home.

He wanted to be where Steve was. Right now, Steve was the only person he really knew. And he didn't even really know Steve. He'd spent a year running from Steve and raining down terror on HYDRA after the helicarriers crashed. Then he'd spent a year in Romania, trying to find himself, trying to find some peace. He thought he'd done that. He had odd jobs doing lifting and moving for various small businesses in the town. His pay came in cash and his rent went in the same. His landlord didn't ask any questions as long as the money arrived on time. Bucky'd never spoken to a neighbor in the whole year. He'd held the door a few times when he happened to cross paths with someone, but he held no conversations. He exchanged minimal pleasantries and questions at the market. He mostly nodded when his employers talked. At a guess, he hadn't said more than a thousand words in the year he was there. Until the day Steve showed up.

Bucky had been right, it always ended in a fight. Together with Steve, Bucky had broken half of mid-Europe. He'd killed people. Innocent people that weren't part of HYDRA. The first victims he'd claimed outside HYDRA members since he'd left The Winter Soldier behind with the burning wreckage in the Potomac. However, the end result of all that fighting eventually brought his path back to New York. It wasn't the Brooklyn of his youth, but still, New York was New York. He regretted everything that happened after the Vienna bombing, he really did. But he found it hard to regret anything that brought him home.

Bucky sat on the edge of his bed in his bare room and contemplated his current fate. He'd been led through the corridor by the son of one of his Winter Soldier victims. A man he'd known in the before and killed in cold blood in the interim with HYDRA. And his son, a man he'd tried to kill in the after. Starks in the before, during, and after of Bucky's life. He was going to sleep under Stark's roof. He was going to lay on a bed Stark bought and eat food Stark paid for. How did it all come to this?

The alien invasion that the Rogue Avengers had joked about Stark's paranoia over was coming. No one was sneering about Stark now. Thor had called the leader Thanos and said he was more powerful than Midguardians could imagine. He was determined to destroy our world. Apparently, he was in love with the incarnation of Death and wanted to gift to her every soul on Earth. He would need the Infinity Stines to accomplish his goal. Loki called Thanos the Mad Titan. Because he was insane. The UN and the United States government had listened. And they'd believed. And they'd acted in the best interest of the world. The Sokovian Accords and the endless debates and amendment appeals had been put on hold until after the invasion was dealt with. Steve was sure they'd be thrown out entirely once the world was saved. When everyone realized they couldn't just leash the Avengers and still have their asses pulled out of the fire. And Europe and the US had graciously decided to drop all legal pursuit of Steve's group for the crimes committed during the Avenger's Civil War. Bucky knew there was nothing civil about war.

All of which brought them back to the US and into the compound. Where Bucky was quickly becoming beholden to a man he already owed a debt of contrition to. The roof over his head, the room for his use and comfort, the food for his nourishment. And that didn't begin to cover the fact that the Wakandans wanted the arm to be calibrated and checked every few weeks for at least six months. Bucky wasn't sure he could voluntarily go into Stark's lab. Or let a man who hated him work on his arm, which was connected to his brain and was useful as a weapon. The thought was daunting.

Bucky looked around his room. His room. His private space. There was a door to close and keep people out. There was a lock on the inside that wasn't to keep him in. There was currently no price on his head. No law enforcement looking for him. He had a therapist lined up to help him work through his lingering HYDRA conditioning. He was on his home soil. He might be able to have a life here. Regain some of what he'd lost. Find himself.

Tonight, his first night back in America as a free man, he was going to spend with Steve. There would be dinner and plenty of time to talk. Bucky was getting used to talking again. He'd been silent for a long time, living with fear. Right here, right now, he had nothing to fear. He could talk all Steve wanted. He'd tell Steve all the things he remembered from before the war. He'd laugh and commiserate over stories from during the war. The comradery they found and loved, and bone-chilling fear they'd shared. He didn't think he'd ever talk about HYDRA with anyone except his therapist. But he could tell Steve about where he'd gone and what he'd done after leaving him in DC.

Bucky knew he'd been given a precious gift. A new opportunity for a life. A real life. Lived in the open instead of in the shadows. He would be part of a team again. He might forge close bonds with his battle brethren. He'd have Steve at his side and at his back.

 


End file.
